Nitin Konde
27 January, 2016, New Delhi: In order to attract more sellers on to its ecommerce platform, Snapdeal’s loan card may prove a fruitful move to increase its business. One of the India’s largest retail marketplaces, Snapdeal is planning to give loans of worth Rs 1000 crore over next six months to its sellers. The company feels that this step will allure more sellers on to its platform and with that; it will be able to offer a huge variety of products to its customers.
To make the loan process smoother and quicker, company has omitted the lengthy processes such as documentation of financial statements and collaterals etc. Instead of that, it has adopted a first of its kind system called industry first credit rating engine on the lines of Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL). The system automatically generates customer’s history and gives feedback by analysing his transaction history, risk behaviour and payback capability.
Commenting on the development, Vijay Ajmera, Senior VP, Capital Assist Programme, Snapdeal said, “There are similar credit rating engines used in Europe and the US such as Kreditech and Kabbage. This is the first time that such an innovative credit rating engine has been developed in India to provide cash to merchants.”
Company will be keeping the loan interest rate around 2-3% lesser than what online sellers would otherwise get from the bank. “Loans as small as Rs 30,000 have been sanctioned to help small businesses scale up from scratch. They aid our smaller sellers grow and expand their businesses. They even help them stay loyal,” adds Ajmera.